Recurring boot problem (no boot)

[Queelis]

So, again, I've come here to get some help with my PC. And again, I just know that the graphics is the culprit, but I don't imagine, really, what to do.

So, the situation is this: after leaving the PC off for a longer while (be it simply turned off and plugged into mains, or turned off and then having the surge protector off), e.g. few hours or the whole night, the PC doesn't boot when I turn it on. It POSTs, I get the Windows running line, and just when the Vista logo and logon sound should be played, two things mostly happen:

1) on the first boot, after the running line disappears, the HDD stops reading, and the PC stalls. Nothing, then. I press reset or hold the power button, turn it off and on.

2) then, on the second boot (if it doesn't boot successfully), the PC gets to the same point, but this time the video card's cooler spins up to what sounds like 100%, and the video signal disappears (when the fan doesn't spin up, the screen is just blank black).

3) then, on the third retry the PC boots normally, absolutely no issues with gaming, video watching, or any other activity whatsoever.

This started, I believe, when I updated the Catalyst drivers to 9.6, but it previously I've rolled back from 9.5 to 9.4 uninstalling the drivers and removing the remains with Driver Sweeper. Now going back to older drivers doesn't improve the case. Tried installing the drivers on the CD (Cat 8.12), then when in Windows the drivers don't load (device manager says something like that the driver is corrupt, and tells me to reinstall the drivers), and I am stuck with generic drivers which can't even allow for 1680x1050 resolution of my monitor.

So, there, that's the problem. The whole details of my system are in "My System" on the left. If you need any details, just write here.

Thanks in advance for your

[nightkhaos]

So this started to occur after you updated your drives for the graphics card?

[sadbuttrue]

I wouldn't be so quick to blame the graphics card, it could simply be a coincidence. I'd give memtest86 a try first to rule out memory issues (it's crashing at the same point where overclocked/unstable memory usually does ime).

[Queelis]

Well, that's one thing ruled out. The test passed, no errors.

The thing why I blame the graphics, and the drivers specifically: when I uninstalled the drivers, the system boots, always. With the drivers, the hang-ups happen.

[Queelis]

I can now confirm that the issue was with the motherboard - it was replaced, the PC boots flawlessly.

[mightymouse]

good to hear you've got it sorted, sometimes coincidence do happen